COTTAGE) GARDENS 159 



possession. A friend writes : " Oh, to be back once 

 again in the little old-world village in the heart of 

 old England, to see the dear old people who petted 

 and spoilt us as children, and gave us at any hour 

 an ever-ready welcome! Our favourite was Mrs. 



P , the wife of the village carpenter, whose 



little plot we so often raided, neither Hall nor 

 Vicarage Garden holding Gooseberries such as hers. 

 At the top of the little flagged pathway, under a 

 trellis of Vine and Honeysuckle we would see our 

 beaming hostess standing, her little red, apple- 

 cheeked face, framed in a snowy, frilled cap, over 

 which she wore a wide-brimmed, black mushroom 

 hat. She was never seen without that hat, indoors 

 or out of doors ; it was as well known to every 

 one as the peacock, bravely cut out of the Yew 

 hedge, at the little wicket-gate, beside the bushes 

 of Lad's-love and Lavender. 



" The owner of the small village shop was another 

 favourite ; she possessed a Cottage and Garden quite 



near Mrs. P 's, but how different ! Tea with 



Hannah was a keen delight, her parlour ornaments 

 consisting of a castellated cottage, cows, stags, 

 dogs in fact, a perfect farmyard was fingered by 

 us with the pleasure that children always have in 

 other people's possessions when unlike their own. 

 Among these wonders was a doll quite a hundred 

 years old, with which we were never tired of 

 playing. 



